Never Love a Wild Thing
by OneVictoriousWolf
Summary: Alek Petrov just wants to play lacrosse and land a date with beautiful Chloe King, but a werewolf bite has left him with supernatural powers he cannot control. With the help from his best friend and a mysterious local werewolf, Alek struggles to keep his identity a secret, outrun werewolf hunters and survive high school. Chalek. AU. Trilogy One.
1. And if My Heart Should Somehow Stop

**Alek Petrov as Scott McCall **

**Chloe King as Allison Argent **

**Amy Martins as Lydia Martin **

**Brian Rezza as Stiles Stilinski **

**Kai (Whitmore) as Jackson Whitmore **

**Derek Hale as Himself**

**A/N: This is AU and they will live in Beacon Hills instead of San Francisco. **

_Trilogy One _

CHAPTER ONE - AND IF MY HEART SHOULD SOMEHOW STOP

Alek Petrov was fixing the laces of his lacrosse stick. The work is fast and precise. Fixing the last loop, Alek gets up and stands with the re-threaded stick. Dressed in only a pair of athletic shorts, his lithe frame may still have some filling out to do, but it's easy to see that he'll soon grow into a strikingly handsome young man with deep brown eyes yet designed to melt the hearts of hopeful young girls.

Scooping a ball up from his bedroom floor, he gives the lacrosse stick a spin, testing his handiwork. A moment later, the re-threaded stick lands next to a school backpack while Alek pumps out a few chin-ups at the bar mounted at the doorway of his closet.

Then, toothbrush in his mouth, he reaches for the window sill to pull it down. But he stops when he hears a sound. He cocks his ear to listen again. Under the whispering wind, he hears movement, a strange shuffling noise.

Alek silently slips into the hallway and peers into another bed room. His mom, Melissa Petrov, late thirties, both remarkably strong and remarkably beautiful, sleeps over the covers of her bed, fully clothed as if she'd just passed out after having walked in. Alek eases her door shut.

The glass door to the porch slides open. Now armed with a baseball bat, Alek starts for the yard. Breath held tight, he moves cautiously off the porch steps. The sound of movement stops him cold.

Holding still, he peers left and right as he white-knuckles the bat, ready to swing. When his eyes wonder up to the side of the house, he sees a dark figure climbing the vine wrapped trellis. Before Alek even knows what's happing, the figure breaks free and comes hurtling towards him. He almost swings the bat before realizing who it is; his best friend since childhood, Brian Rezza.

"Brian! What the hell are you doing!?" Alek asked _loudly_.

"You weren't answering your phone!" Brian notices the bat. "Why do you have a bat?"

"I thought you were a predator."

"A pre..." Brian scoffed. Feet caught in the trellis, he hangs in front of Alek. A sixteen year-old with boundless energy, he continues talking upside down as if this were a perfectly normal way to have a conversation.

"I know it's late, but you gotta hear this. I saw my dad leave twenty minutes ago. Dispatch called. They're bringing in every officer from the San Francisco department and even State police."

Alek asks, "For what?"

"Two joggers found a body in the woods."

"They found a dead body?"

"No, they found a body of water." Brian answers sarcastically. "Yes, dumb-butt, it was a dead body." Reaching up to pull himself free of the trellis, he lands on his feet in front of Alek.

"You mean like murdered?"

"Nobody knows yet." Brian responded. "They just know that it was a girl, probably in her twenties."

"Hold on...if they found a body, what are they looking for now?"

"That's the best part; they only found half." Brian smacks his lips and smirks. "We're going."

Soon, a beat-up jeep skids to a halt just beyond the heavily wooded entrance to the San Francisco preserve. Brian gets out with a flashlight in hand. Alek follows, hurrying to keep up with him as he charges into the hiking paths.

Alek asks, "Are we seriously doing this?"

"You're the one always bitching that nothing ever happens in this town. Besides, it's our last night of summer freedom."

"I was trying to get a good night's sleep for practice tomorrow."

"Right, because sitting on the bench is such a grueling effort."

"No, because I'm playing this year; in fact, I'm going to make starting lineup."

"That's the spirit!" Brian exclaims. "Everyone should have a dream...even a pathetically unrealistic one."

"Just out of curiosity, which half of the body are we looking for?"

"Huh...I didn't even think about that."

Alek asks, "What if whoever killed the girl is still out here?"

"That's also something I didn't think about."

"It's comforting to know you planned this out with your usual attention to detail." Alek commented. Racing up the paths, his breath begins to shorten. "Maybe the severe asthmatic should be the one holding the flashlight."

Brian slows, but not because of Alek. Outside a clearing, yellow police tape marks off a perimeter under floodlights. Grinning, Brian looks to Alek who can't help grinning back. Crouching low, they circle the crime scene, looking for the best vantage point. But they freeze at the sound of zipper being pulled up on a body bag. Two bare feet are momentarily visible as the zipper pulls close and officers lift the body up into the Medical Examiner's van.

"Is that the second half of the body?" Alek asked.

"No, they would've called off the search." Brian responded. "Come on." He and Alek retreat from the perimeter back into the dark of the woods. As they crest a hill, Alek pauses. Below, flashlight beams scour the shadows, the police search just ahead. Unable to stand still Brian races forward.

"Brian, wait up." Alek calls out to him, but Brian doesn't wait. But quickly running out of air, Alek pulls out his inhaler from his jacket. While he pauses to take a hit from it, Brian disappears up ahead. Then, realizing he's left Alek behind, he slows to look back when barking spins him around.

Fanged teeth snap ferociously at him, sending him staggering away and falling right onto his butt. Search dogs yank back against their leashes just before tearing them apart. "Stay right there!" A state trooper calls out.

Alek freezes. It's not him the state trooper was yelling at, however. Peering out from behind a tree, he sees Brian has run right into a search party. Flashlight beams in his eyes; the boy puts his hands in the air as large, threatening figures hurry forward.

Deputy Rezza steps into the light past the growling search dogs. Brian shrinks under his glare. "Hold on, hold on, this little delinquent belongs to me." He asks Brian, "Son, do you listen in on all of my phone calls?"

"No...Not the boring ones."

"And where's your usual partner in crime?"

"Who, Alek...? Alek's at home. He said he wanted to get a good night's sleep for the first day back at school."

Deputy Rezza calls out, "Alek, you out there?" Hidden in the shadows, Alek doesn't move. "Alright, young man, I'm taking you back to your car and we're going to discuss a little something we like to call Invasion of Privacy." Deputy was still suspicious.

Watching Brian get escorted away, Alek steps out from the cover of the trees with an irritated sigh. Starting back, he tries to find his way out of the woods, but with each step, it becomes increasingly difficult to see in the pitch black.

At a fork in the path, he pauses in confusion. He's about to start off down one direction when he hears a rustling among the trees. Alek holds still. Breath tightening more from fear than asthma, he reaches into his pocket for his inhaler when he hears an odd rumbling. The sound of sudden and furious movement rising in volume velocity until half a dozen deer charge out of the darkness, soaring past him with the thunderous beat of hooves trampling the ground. Startled, Alek drops the inhaler.

Then, once again alone in the dark, he kneels down to the leaf-covered ground to search for the inhaler. Pulling out his cellphone, he lights the display. Guiding the phone's light over the ground, Alek doesn't find his inhaler, but does manage to briefly illuminate a face. Dead eyes peer from the pale, yet beautiful face of a young woman torn in half. Crying out in shock, Alek lurches up, tripping on his own feet and tumbling over the unearthed roots of a tree. Suddenly, he's propelled down a leaf-covered slope, rolling head over heels right into a creek bed.

Pushing himself up from the icy water, a breathless Alek looks up at the embankment down which he just fell. He's about to stand when a low growl stops him moving, and stops his breathing. Something crouches in the shadows right near him. It was something very large. Alek slowly begins to turn around when a shape hurtles toward him. For the briefest instant, there's a flash of razor-sharp teeth. Alek twists forward, crying out. Then, seeming to disentangle himself from the attacking animal, he scrambles back to his feet and into a panicked run.

Whipping through branches tearing at his skin and clothes, he races blindly through the forest until he reaches a barbed wire fence. With barely a second to coordinate his effort, he lurches over the wire, shirt catching and tearing across the barbs. Crashing out of the woods and into the road, Alek whirls around to face an oncoming car. The driver swerves, almost clipping him. Horn blaring, the car hurtles past. Breathless, Alek steps away from the woods. With the world spinning around him, dark blood sticks his tattered shirt to his back over a deep vicious looking bite. Struggling for calm, he whips around when he hears the strangest sound, THE HOWLING OF A WOLF.

It echoes through the hills, over the trees, across the rooftops, and into the night.

_**[First Day of School]**_

A school bell rings in the crowded hallway. At their lockers, Alek takes off his backpack and pulls his shirt up a few inches to show Brian the bandage on his lower back. Alek says, "It was too dark to see much, but I'm pretty sure it was a wolf."

"...a wolf bit you?" Brian asked. "No, not a chance."

"I heard a wolf howling."

"No, you didn't."

"What do you mean 'No, I didn't'? How do you know what I head?"

Brian responds, "California doesn't have wolves; not for the last sixty years."

"Really...?"

"Yes, really, there are no wolves in California."

"Well, if you don't believe me about the wolf, then you're definitely not going to believe me when I tell you I saw the body." Alek confessed and Brian's jaw dropped.

"You, what, are you kidding me?"

"I wish." He answered. "I'm going to have nightmares about it for a month."

"That's freaking awesome. This is seriously the best thing that's happened to this town since..." Brian looks behind Alek to see a brunette girl walking down the corridor. "...since the birth of Amy Martins who's walking towards us right now."

A drop-dead gorgeous junior named Amy Martins walks the hallway like it was a fashion show runway in Milan. "Hey, Amy, how are you? You look..." Amy walks right past him. "...like you're going to ignore me." Alek lets out a laugh and Brian glares at him, saying, "You're the cause of this you know, dragging me down to your nerd depths. I'm a nerd by association. I've been scarlet-nerded by you."

Blending into the crowd, they head to first period.

_**[First Period: English]**_

In first period English, Alek takes the desk next to Brian as the teacher, Mr. Curtis walks in. "As you all know by now, there was indeed a body found in the woods last night. I'm sure you're eager little minds are coming up with all sorts of macabre scenarios as to how it happened, but I've been told that the police have a suspect in custody." Mr. Curtis speaks, walking down the aisles, handing out papers. Alek looks at Brian who shrugs; news to him as well. Mr. Curtis continues, "A vagrant with a long history of psychiatric disorders was discovered camping out in the woods near where the body was found which means your undivided attention can be given to the syllabus outlining the semester on your desks. Read it now; and by read, I don't mean skim.

The sound of paper pages flipping rumbles toward Alek as students start reading. It's strangely loud, causing his ears to twitch especially when a cell phone rings. He glances up. The other students quietly read the syllabus. Alek appears to be the only one noticing the ringing. Gazing about, he can't seem to find the source until his eyes fall on the windows of the classroom. Across the quad, Alek sees Chloe King, sixteen and radiating with innocent beauty. When she puts a cell phone to her ear, it becomes obvious that, despite the closed window and the distance, this is the ringing Alek is somehow able to hear.

More astonishingly, Alek can hear both Chloe and her caller, their voices echoing with a tinny effect. (Chloe - Italics, Caller - Bold, Principal - Underlined).

"_Mom, three calls on my first day is a little overdoing it." _

"**I'm just making sure you're there okay and you got everything you need." **

But Chloe digs through her bag, becoming alarmed, _"I have everything except a pen. Oh, my god, I didn't actually forget a pen." _

"**Don't panic; I'm sure you can borrow one from another student." **

"_Okay, okay, I gotta go. Love ya." _Unable to take his eyes off the extraordinary girl, Alek watches the school's principal joins her on the steps.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." The principal guides her across the quad, their conversation becoming clearer to Alek with every step. "So, you were saying New York isn't where you grew up?"

"_No, but we stayed for more than a year which is unusual in my family. We always bounce around a lot because of my dad's work." _Even when Chloe and the principal disappear from view, Alek hears the clatter of the building door opening, the clicking of their heels on the tile floor of the hall.

"Well, hopefully, San Francisco is your last stop for a while." The door opens, causing the rest of the of the class to look up. Chloe and the principle walk in. "Class, this is our new student, Chloe King. Please do your best to make her feel welcome."

Alek barely breathes as Chloe heads for the one empty desk left in the room; right behind him. She puts her notebook down, and then glances up to see Alek turned toward her, holding out a pen. With a relieved but curious smile, she takes it from him. "Thanks." He gives her a nod. Turning around, his gaze focuses on Brian's desk where his friend's sunglasses sit. In the mirrored lenses, Alek can see Chloe reflected behind him and he can't take his eyes off her.

"Okay, let's begin with Kafka's Metamorphosis..."

_-Cafeteria-_

Silence, then the doors of the cafeteria push open. As Alek steps in, the cacophony of high school lunch period slams into him and every sound assaults him with pin-drop clarity. "Are you alright?" Brian asks Alek, who is just standing there. Overwhelmed, Alek doesn't even hear him. His hands come up to his ears to cover when he sees Chloe in the room, paying for her food.

The cashier breaks a roll of quarters, but the coins spill to the floor. Alek hears each one plink against the tile. Chloe immediately kneels to help the embarrassed cashier, giving a good-hearted smile to the grateful woman while the other students just stand by and wait impatiently. Then Chloe notices Alek and they connect eyes. Somehow, just this look from her seems to return from his hearing to normal. She starts to smile back, recognizing him. But Amy Martins swoops in front of her. (Chloe - Italic, Amy - Bold, Kai - Underlined).

"**That jacket is absolutely killer."** Amy compliments. **"Where did you get it?"**

"My mom was a buyer for a boutique back in New York."

"You're my new best friend. You're sitting with me." Taking Chloe by the arm, she guides her to the popular table. Kai Whitmore, Amy's boyfriend, pulls her toward his lap, but she brushes him off, still talking to Chloe. A few tables away, Alek sits with Brian and their friend Rebecca Harlow, better known as Harley.

Harley asks, "Can somebody tell me how the new girl is here all of five minutes and she's already at Amy's table?"

"That's because she's hot. Beautiful people herd together." Brian says.

"Is that why Amy's not herding with you?"

"Amy is a long-term project okay? And trust me; I've got all the patience in the world for a high yield investment like her."

"Well, I don't think the New Girl's that pretty. Alek, do you think she's pretty?" She asks. He doesn't even blink, attention consumed by Chloe. "Alek?"

"I'd take that as a yes." Brian remarks. Head cocked slightly, Alek tunes in the conversation across the room, voices coming into focus. (Chloe - Italics, Kai - Underlined, Amy - bold)

"_A party...?" _

"It's Friday Night. We could go together."

"_I can't. It's Family Night this Friday, but thanks for asking." _

"Are you sure? Everyone's going after the scrimmage game."

"_You mean like football?"_

"Football is a joke at San Francisco High. The sport here is Lacrosse. We won the state championship the last three years..."

"**...Because of a certain captain." **

"Every season starts with a scrimmage to decide the new first string. Do you ever watch Lacrosse?" Brian notices Alek watching Amy's table intently; not merely staring, but seeming to listen. "Maybe you should just come see for yourself. We have practice today. You don't have to be anywhere after school, do you?"

"Well, no..."

"**Perfect. You're coming."** Amy interrupts her.

_-Lacrosse Practice-_

A whistle blows and the Lacrosse team's Assistant Coach gathers the team on the field, Brian and Alek are lagging alone. Brian asks, "Just think about this. If you play I'll have no one to talk to on the bench. You're really going to do that to your best friend?"

"I can't sit out again. My whole life is sitting on the sidelines. This season, I make my first string."

Heading for the field, he pauses to notice Amy climbing the bleachers, and stepping right behind her is Chloe. "Petrov, you're on goal!" The coach shouts towards Alek. He trots over to the coach, a man with little comprehension of the difficulties of teenage life.

"But I never played goal."

"I know, but scoring some shots will give the boys a confidence boost. It's a first day back thing. Get them energized, jazzed out."

Alek asks, "What about me?"

"Try not to take any in the face." Stepping into the next, Alek glances to the bleachers where Chloe watches with Amy, eyes focusing on them.

"**Him...? I'm not sure who is. Why?"** Alek overhears Amy ask Chloe.

"_He's in my English class."_ Chloe responds. Alek looks up, shocked to hear Chloe asking about him, but with his hearing momentarily turned up; he flinches at the whistle blow, sound ringing through his skull. One of the bigger player's charges forward as the Assistant Coach passes the ball to him. Catching it, he whips the stick forward, hurling the ball toward the goal. Still reeling from the whistle, Alek looks up too late to see the ball soaring toward him. It bounces right off the helmet and into the net. The team laughs wickedly, even the coach snickers.

With cheeks burning under his mask, Alek steals himself for the next player. When the whistle blows again, he's ready. The assistant Coach passes the ball to the player who catches it and fires it right at the goal. Alek moves startlingly fast, almost an instantaneous reaction. Then he notices the player staring at him with a mixture of disappointment and surprise. Alek has the ball. He caught it. When the next player takes the shot, Alek catches the ball again, and then again, and again. Nothing can get past him. In the bleachers Chloe and Amy sit forward.

"He seems like he's pretty good." Chloe compliments.

"Very good..." Amy adds. Intrigued Amy keeps her gaze locked on Alek who now stands with a far more confident posture until Kai pushes to the head of the line. Glaring at Alek, he practically strangles the lacrosse stick with his gloves. The Assistant Coach tosses the ball up. Kai launches forward, catching the ball and spinning around to fire it at the goal. But Alek moves with supernatural precision. The ball lands right in the pocket of the goalie's stick.

Brian lets out a holler, jumping on the bench. In the bleachers, Amy stands and gives a whoop as well causing Alek to throw a look at her. She returns his glare with a sly smile, a warning to step up his game. Grinning, Alek gives the goalie stick a whirl, spinning it with a flick of his wrist and sending the ball soaring right into the pocket of the stunned Assistant Coach's stick.

_**[Forest]**_

Alek retraces his steps from last night with Brian following behind him. Alek explains the experience at school and lacrosse practice, "I don't know what it was. I mean I felt like I had all the time in the world to catch the ball. And that's not the only weird thing; I mean, I can hear stuff I shouldn't be able to hear and I can smell things.

"You can smell things like what?" Brian asked.

"Things like the mint mojito gum in your pocket."

"I don't have any." Brian pulls out a lint-covered piece of wrapped gum.

"So, all this started with the bite?" Brian asked.

"What if it's an infection? What if my body is flooding with adrenaline before I fall into shock? I knew I should've gone to the E.R."

"I've actually hear of this." Brian responded. "It's a specific kind of infection."

"Are you serious?"

"All symptoms add up. I think it's called _Lycanthropy_."

"What's that? Is that bad?" Alek asked. "It sounds bad."

"It is, but only once a month."

"It happens only once a month?"

"Yeah, on the night of the full moon."

"You're an ass." Alek slaps him on the arm, getting what he meant. Brian chuckles and catches his balance.

"Hey, you're the one who heard a wolf howling." Brian defends himself.

"There could be something seriously wrong with me." Alek states.

"I know! You're a werewolf! Okay, obviously, I'm kidding, but if you see me in shop class melting down all the silver I can find, it's because Friday's a full moon."

Alek glances around. "I swear this was it. The body was here. The deer came running, I dropped my inhaler..." He trails off.

Brian suggested, "Maybe the killer moved the body."

"If he did, I hope he left my inhaler. Those things are like eighty bucks."

Brian taps him on the arm, bringing his attention to a figure standing just a few yards away. Derek Hale; nineteen and unquestionably handsome, has a rougher look than the cleanly shaven San Francisco boys.

Derek asks, "What are you doing here?" Both Alek and Brian are too stunned to speak at first. Derek continues. "This is private property."

Brian responds, "Sorry, we didn't know."

"We were just looking for something. Forget it. Sorry to bother you." Alek apologizes. As they're turning to go, Derek tosses an object to Alek which was his inhaler. When he looks up, Derek is already walking away. Alek turns to Brian and says, "Come on I have to work."

"Dude, that was Derek Hale." Brian stops him from walking away. "You remember, right? He's only a few years older than us."

"What?" Alek asks his friend who is suddenly interested about the guy they seen just seconds ago.

"His family; they all burned to death in a fire like ten years ago. I remember the cops pulling him out to tell him."

"I wonder what he's doing back." Alek eyes the inhaler in his hand, closing his fist in it.

_**[Veterinary Clinic]**_

Inside the town's lone veterinary clinic, Alek flips the sign on the door to CLOSED and then grabs a few packages off the reception desk. The door to a storage room opens into the corridor. Alek backs out, hauling a huge bag of kitty litter. Setting it against the wall, he takes out a set of keys and unlocks the next door. But just before pulling it open, he pauses, hand gripping the doorknob as he listens to the utterly silent clinic. And then he hears it, rain, the pattering of drops on the roof.

He twists the knob and opens the door. He barely has a foot inside the room when the cages fillwed with cats come alive with activity. The frightened felines suddenly bare their teeth, hissing and clawing frenetically at the cage doors. All of them focused on Alek, their backs arched, struck with absolute terror. Stunned, he staggers out of the room, slamming the door shut.

Retreating into the waiting room, Alek can still hear the pandemonium coming from the inside when a hammering spins him around. Standing outside and banging on the glass door with her fist is Chloe. Rain-soaked, it's nevertheless easy to see that she's crying and in a visible panic. Quickly unlocking the door, Alek lets her in as she tries to explain through tears what happened.

"I didn't see it." Chloe suddenly says. "I took my two seconds to switch songs on my iPod and this dog...it came out of nowhere..."

"Okay, it's all right. Do you remember where it happened so I can send out animal control to find it?" Alek asked.

"No. I mean, yes. I know where I hit it. But the dog..."

"Right, where is it?"

"It's in my car." Following Chloe to her car under the now drizzling rain, Alek opens the back seat door to reveal an injured stray. Hackles raised, the frightened lab mix is clearly in pain. Chloe reaches in to pick him up, but the dog snaps at her. She flinches back, stepping right into Alek's arms.

"You okay?" He asks her. She nods, looking up at Alek behind her, his hands on her forearms, fingers lightl touching her soft skin. He assures her, "He's just frightened."

"That makes two of us." Chloe remarks.

"Let me see if I have better luck." Once he lets her go, he steps toward the open door oddly calm.

"Careful." She warns. As he connects eye with the dog, something happens. A sound drops out around him all except for the dog's nervous panting. Then its harsh gasps begin to ease as some sort of primal communication occurs between them. For the briefest moment, his eyes take on a strangely yellow tint, like that of a wolf. In response, the dog lowers its body submissively, yielding to the obviously dominant animal. With Chloe watching in amazement, Alek gathers the dog into his arms and carries him into the vet's office. Inside, Alek gently lays the injured animal down on the examining table. Chloe stays back, watching him inspect the dog while petting it, doing an expert job of calming it.

"I think his leg is broken; I can splint it now. I can give him a painkiller and then let the doctor take a look in the morning." He says. Chloe steals glances at him, looking on with admiration as she works. But Alek doesn't notice, terrified to glance at the beautiful girl. When he finally does look up, he sees she's hugging herself, soaked and obviously freezing.

"I have a T-shirt in my bag." He offers.

"Oh, I don't want to trouble you." She says, but Alek is already reaching into his bag for the shirt. She takes it with a small smile. When she steps in the hall for privacy, Alek can't help but notice her reflection in a wall mirror. As she's pulling the wet shirt off, he catches sight of her bare back. Looking away, Alek notices the dog staring up him.

"What? I didn't see anything." He says. The dog doesn't look convinced. Chloe comes back, now wearing his shirt and no longer shivering.

"Thanks for doing this. I feel really stupid."

"How come...?" Alek asked.

"I don't know; for freaking out like a total girl."

Alek states, "You are a girl."

"I freaked out like a girly girl. I'm not a girly girl."

"What kind of girl are you?" He asked.

"I'm tougher than that...at least I thought I was."

"I'd be freaked out too. In fact, I'd probably cry." Alek teased. "And not like a man. I'd cry like the girliest girl cry. It would be pathetic." She laughs.

"Yeah, whatever."

Alek finishes wrapping the dog's leg. "So it looks like he's going to live, and I'm pretty sure he'll even let you pet him if you want." Alek says.

"I don't think so."

"Come on. You don't want him to sue. This breed is very litigious." Chloe approaches and tentatively reaches out to stroke the dog's neck. Calm now, the dog even licks her hand.

"See? He likes you." He watches Chloe, unable to take his eyes off of her. She notices his stare.

"What?"

"Sorry. You have an eyelash on your cheek."

"Oh, it's from the crying." She wipes at her cheek, but the lash is still there. He shakes his head. She tries again; still there. So Alek reaches with his thumb to brush the lash.

"Thanks." He nods, hand coming down like he's quite not sure what do do with it. After their moment, he walks her back to her car when he suddenly as a question when she opens the car door.

"Um...I was wondering...I mean...is it really Family Night on Friday or do you think maybe you'd like to go to that party with me?" She throws him a curious look. How did he know about that?

"Family Night was a total lie." She admits.

"So, is that a _yes_, you'll go?"

"Definitely yes..."

_**[Later]**_

Tearing down the road on his bike, a huge smile nearly splits Alek's face in half. He's ecstatic, jubilant, but not for long. He slows. Smile fading, something has caught his attention. He eases to a stop on the rain-slick road and holds still. Turning his head up, he takes a quick whiff of the air. Slowly, he turns around to find dark surrounding him on all sides. The road is completely empty and strangely quiet. Then sound of movement catches his ear. He turns, peering into the forest; nothing. He starts pedaling again, glancing to each side of him as he picks up speed.

Then he notices a shadow moving through the woods, keeping pace with him. When he starts pedaling faster, that strange loping silhouette moves just as fast.

Pedaling harder and harder, Alek pushes the bike to its limits, steel chain threatening to come off. The shadow slows, letting him get ahead. Not at all relieved, Alek keeps going, looking back to see something large and fast crossing the road just a few yards behind him, diving into the dark of the woods. Now on the other side of the and driving Alek's panic higher and higher, it keeps pace with him once again until it disappears.

A breathless Alek gives a last glance back to the woods on both sides, then forward where a truck veers out in front of him, an eighteen wheeler coming from a side of the road. Alek hits the breaks, the truck looming before him. Bike crashing against the hood of the cab, it flips and smacks him on the road, metal scraping pavement as it clatters to a stop.

The truck driver jumps out, glancing around in panic, but there's nobody on the ground. He finally peers up where Alek stands on top of the car.

"What the hell?" The driver is shocked. Breathless, Alek is too stunned to even answer.

_**[Lacrosse Practice - Next Day]**_

Amid the players rushing the field, a very late Brian finds Alek in the crowd and hurries toward him. "Alek, wait up!" He calls him. "You gotta hear this."

"I'm playing the first elimination, Brian." Alek responds. "Can't it wait?"

"Just hold on. I overheard my dad on the phone. The fiber analysis report came back from San Francisco and they found animal hairs on the body from the woods."

"Brian, I have to go."

"You're not going to believe what the animal was." But with his helment off, Alek disappears in the crowd of other players rushing the field, leaving Brian to say the next words to himself, "It was a wolf."

Out on the field, the coach shouts for the players, "Alright, gather around..." Alek glances back to the bleachers where students and parents sit to watch the special scrimmage. He spots Chloe next to Amy. She gives him a quick wave and a smile. He holds up a hand to wave back. "You got a question, Petrov?" The coach asks. Alek looks in his direction.

"What?"

"You raised your hand."

"Oh, no I was just...nothing. Sorry."

The coach starts talking to the rest of the team, "Alright, you know how this goes. If you don't make the cut, you're most likely warming the bench the rest of the season. But make first string and you play, your parents are proud, your girlfriend loves you, everything else is cream cheese. Now show me what you got."

The whistle blows and the game begins. The pace is fast and brutal. When the ball gets passed to Alek, Kai comes right after him. Lacrosse sticks smacking down on his gloves, Alek tumbles forward and slams to the ground, kicking dirt up around him. The whistle stops the play. Kai stands over Alek, glowering down at him as he picks the ball up with a gloved hand. Teeth clenched behind his mask, Alek pushes himself off the ground.

Coach gives the whistle a sharp blow, starting the next play. Alek and Kai find themselves staring across from each other at the draw, crouched down with their sticks, waiting for the Assistant Coach to drop the ball.

At the whistle, Alek moves with shocking speed, grabbing the ball right out from under Kai. At the benches, Brian stands, slowly moving to the sidelines to watch. Alek charges the length of the field. Defense lashes out with their sticks, but he parries expertly.

Kai catches up and makes a furious stab at stealing the ball. Then with defense converging on him, Alek twists his lacrosse stick around, keeping the ball safely in the pocket while he literally flips forward, leaning right over the heads of the defensive players. Feet landing on the turf, he whirls around, tossing the ball in an over the shoulder shot past the goalie and right into the net.

The crowd in the bleachers roar with cheering, Chloe on her feet along with everyone else except Brian.

"Petrov, get over here!" Coach shouts. He trots over to the Coach, all eyes on him. "What was that? This is a lacrosse field. Are you trying out for the gymnastics team?"

"No, Coach."

"Then what the hell was that?"

"I don't know." Alek answered. "I was just trying to make the shot.

"Well, you made the shot, and guess what? You just made lineup." Cheers erupt around him. As team members slap him on the back and knock his helmet with their gloves, a deliriously happy Alek doesn't even notice Kai's furious stare or Brian

watching with a very worry look.

_**[Brian's Room]**_

Fingers click furiously over a keyboard. Eyes locked onto his computer screen, Brian bounces from one webpage to the next. Words and images pop up on the screen, flashing across his face: _Wolfsbane, Silver Bullets, Lycan, Aconite, _drawings of werewolves in different forms, one mostly human, another massive fur-covered creature and yet another appearing as a normal wolf. Image after image, page after page while the sun is setting on San Francisco and a full moon begins to rise.

As his room darkens, an increasingly panicked Brian watches a sheet of paper come out of his printer - a detailed wood carving of a medieval hunter standing over the body of a werewolf, aiming a crossbow at the creature. He pulls the page out, staring at it with a look of escalating fear when someone knocks on the door. Brian practically leaps out of his chair. Rushing to the door, he unlocks it and opens to see Alek standing in the doorway.

"Get in." He pushes Alek in. "You have to see this. I've been reading websites, books and all this information." He says, sitting across from Alek, who had took a seat on the foot of the bed. As Alek takes off his jacket, Brian starts grabbing printouts from his desk, pulling his computer screen around, and dozens of open webpages on it.

"How much Adderall have you had?" Alek asked, concerned for the seemingly hyper Brian.

"I've had a lot. That doesn't matter. Just listen to this."

"Is this about the body?" Alek asked. "Did they find who did it?"

"No, they're still questioning people, even Derek Hale, the guy from the woods."

"What then?"

"Remember the joke the other day? It's not a joke anymore. The wolf, the bite in the woods; I started doing all this reading and...Do you even know why a wolf howls?"

"Should I?"

"It's a signal. When a wolf is alone, it howls to signal its location to the rest of the pack. So if you heard it howling, it means there are others, maybe a pack of them.

"Wait, a pack of wolves?"

"No, I mean a pack of werewolves."

"You're seriously wasting my time on this?" Alek asked. "You know, I'm picking Chloe up in an hour."

"So, I made a good shot."

"No, you made an incredible shot. The way you moved, the speed, your reflexes, people can't suddenly do that overnight and then there's the hearing, the senses, and don't think I haven't noticed you don't need your inhaler anymore. You haven't used it since that night." Brian states.

"I can't think about this now. We'll talk tomorrow, okay?"

"Tomorrow, don't you get it? The full moon is tonight."

"What are you trying to do? I just made starting lineup. I have a date with a girl I can't believe actually wants to go out with me. Everything is somehow perfect in my life. Why are you trying to ruin it for me?"

"I'm trying to help. With the full moon, it's going to be too hard to resist and there's no going back. You're cursed, Alek, and it's not only that the moon causes you to change, it's also when your bloodlust will be at its peak."

"Bloodlust...?"

"It's your urge to kill."

"I'm already starting to have an urge to kill, Brian."

"You need to hear this. This change can be caused by your anger or anything that raises your pulse. And I've never seen anyone raise your pulse like Chloe does. You have to cancel your date. You have to call her." Brian grabs Alek's jacket, pulling the cell phone out.

"What are you doing? Give me that!" Alek demands.

"I'm just finding her number."

"Give it to me." He demands, his voice low and guttural this time. Brian looks up to see Alek's eyes flash yellow for a brief second. Alek yanks the phone out of Brian's hand and shoves him against the wall. Pulling back before striking him, Alek instead lashes out at the desk chair, sending it flying across the room, tossed like it weight nothing. Then, shaking with anger, he gazes up. "I didn't mean to do that." Alek apologizes.

He starts to help Brian up, but Brian flinches back. "I'm sorry. Really, I didn't mean it. I have to go. I have to get ready for the party. I'm sorry." He apologizes again before grabbing his jacket and hurrying out.

Still shaken, Brian gradually stands. He slowly picks up the desk chair, putting it back. But then he pauses. With a shaky hand, he turns the chair around to reveal _claw marks_, the chair's fabric slashed to ribbons.

_**[Alek's Room]**_

Towel around his waist, Alek yanks his closet door open and starts tossing clothes onto his bed. "Big date?" His mom, Melissa Petrov, stands at the door.

Alek turns around, "Mom, can I have a little privacy, please?"

"Hold on, what do we have here?" She approaches, feeling his chin with her thumb. "I think it might be time for you to start shaving."

Outside the house, Alek and his mom can be heard talking. _"I don't even have a razor."_ Then further down the street, their voices take on the same effect as those that Alek could hear when he was listening in on conversations at school.

"_You better borrow one of mine. I'll go get it. Stay righ there."_ No less than a hundred yards away, but still within the line of sight of the house, someone stands beside a black Dodge Challenger, listening in on the conversation, Derek.

_**[Party]**_

In the backyard of a dimly lit house, Alek and Chloe stand awkwardly among a crowd of drunk and high teenagers. Alek peers down at the table with the booze.

"So, what do you drink?" Alek asks, breaking the awkward silence between them.

"Um...I don't know..."

"Me either, actually. Maybe we should try root beer? Wait here. I'll get the keg." Alek walks away after getting a simple "Perfect" from Chloe.

Near a blazing fire, Alek fills two cups at the crowded keg when a sound of a dog barking catches his attention. A huge Rottweiler in the yard next door just beyond a chain linked fence, barking at Derek. He stands behind the fire pit, staring straight at Alek. But then he shoots a look at Rottweiler. The dog stops barking instantly. Eyes locking on the animal, Derek gives an almost imperceptible no. Tail between its legs, the Rottweiler submissively lowers to a sitting position.

Satisfied, Derek turns back to Alek who grips the two overflowing cups in his hands and for the briefest second, Derek's eyes flash yellow.

"Dude, are you done?" A party goer asks. Stunned, Alek hands off the keg tap to the party-goer. When he looks back to the fire-pit, Derek is gone. Alek turns, glancing to the other teens in the yard, to the chain link fence, and then up to the roof where a shadowy figure seems to disappear just past the chimney. Alek steps back, trying to see if he actually did just witness Derek leaping twenty feet off the ground. But there's nothing there. Handing a cup to Chloe, he keeps throwing nervous glances back at the outside porch of the house. He takes a gulp of the beer and then coughs, nearly spitting it out.

"This punch tastes terrible." Alek comments. Chloe laughs, covering her mouth with her hand. "Now I see what they mean about an acquired taste.

Chloe replies, "I've actually never been drunk. I usually go to parties and just stand there with a diet coke.

"Brian and I got drunk on tequila one night. The next morning I felt like I had a flamethrower pointed at my forehead." Alek said.

"Okay, since neither of us are any good at drinking, how are you at dancing?" Chloe asked.

"I'm much better...infinitely better..."

Under the driving pulse of techno, Alek takes her hand, pulling her into the crowd of dancing teenagers. Then as they begin moving, as Chloe starts to smile back at him, the usually timid Alek begins to let go. His hands reach around her waist with the other teens pushing them closer. Bodies pressed against each other, her cheek brushes lightly at his.

Then through the crowd, Alek notices Amy dancing with Kai, grinding close to him, her fingers wrapped around the back of his neck. She presses her lips to Kai's locking him in a passionate kiss. As he eagerly kisses her back, sliding his hands down past her waist, Amy opens her eyes and looks right at Alek. She's staring at him as she kisses Kai. Unused to the attention of one beautiful girl, much less two, Alek finds himself dumbstruck until the bodies of the dancing teens push together to leave him alone with Chloe again.

As Alek peers into Chloe's eyes, for a second it almost looks as though they're about to kiss, then the thumping beat of the music begins driving faster, starting to sound almost like the quickening of a heartbeat...Alek's heartbeat. The sounds around him intensify, his fingers clench back, veins at the surface of his hands as he presses against the fabric of Chloe's shirt. His upper lip pulls up momentarily to reveal a sharpened incisor.

Lights glaring in his eyes, Alek takes a hard swallow as his breathing tightens, sweat beading his temples. He loses the beat of the music, stepping back and pulling away. Alek excuses himself, "Sorry, I have to go...go to the bathroom."

"Are you okay?" She asks. But he hurries past her and into the hallway. Teeth clenched, a sudden wave of pain slams him against the wall, tremors shuddering through his body. Waiting in a line for the bathroom, Harley notices him against the wall, his arms wrapped around his stomach.

"Alek, are you alright?" Harley asks, but he doesn't answer, pushing through the crowd, trying to find an exit out of the house. But one door leads to two teens making out on a bed. Another to a smoke filled room crowded with stoners. He can't seem to find a way out.

Gasps sounding more like animalistic growls, he crashes through the kitchen, shoving past people to the open door and out to the backyard.

Harley notices Alek near the fire-pit outside. "Hey, I just saw Alek leave. I think he had too much to drink." Harley informs him.

"What? What do you mean?" Brian asked, obviously alarmed.

Before she can answer, a panicked party goer charges in from the back door. "The cops are here!" Suddenly, everyone is moving, darting for an escape.

_**[Alek's Room]**_

Alek stumbles into his room, slamming the door shut. But even as he's turning the lock, another wave of pain wracks his body. He falls back, hitting his dresser and catching his reflection in the mirror where two glowing eyes stare back at him.

Crouched on the floor, breathing hard with sweat streaming down his forehead, Alek squeezes his eyes shut, trying to push back the animal inside when someone pounds on the door.

"Go away!" Alek shouts.

"Alek, it's me." Brian calls out from the other side. Hearing the panic in his friends voice, he pulls himself up. He unlocks the door, but only allows it to open an inch.

"Let me in." Brian demands. "Alek, I can help."

"No!" Eyes still burning yellow, Alek stays hidden behind the door. "Listen, you have to find Chloe. Take her home..." He stops speaking when Brian interrupts.

"She's fine. I saw her get a ride. She's totally fine."

"Brian, I think I know who it is."

Brian demands, "Just let me in and we can talk."

"It's Derek. Derek Hale is the werewolf. He's the one who bit me. He's the one who killed the girl in the woods!" Alek exclaimed.

Alek listens, but there's nothing but shocked silence from the other side of the door until, "Alek...Derek's the one who drove Chloe from the party."

Bedroom window thrown open, Alek launches himself out from the second story fifteen feet up. When his feet hit the pavement, his crouched figure slowly draws up to reveal he's no longer struggling against the transformation; _he's given into it._

He takes off for the woods, searching for Chloe. He reaches the San Francisco preserve and jumps on Derek's car. He lies flat on the car's hood, looking in the car window for Chloe. Neither she nor Derek are anywhere in sight. He jumps off and goes further into the woods.

**[King Driveway]**

Brian pulls into the King's driveway and quickly gets out. He rushes to the door and rings the doorbell. "Come, on, come on!" He mutters. He bangs on the door waiting for it to open. Soon, he is watching as Mrs. King opens the door. "Hi, Mrs. King, you have no idea who I am. I'm a friend of your daughter's. Uh, look, this is gonna sound crazy, um...really crazy actually. You know what? Crazy doesn't..." Brian mumbles on and on. Mrs. King keeps looking at him as if he was strange.

"Chloe." She turns to the stairs. "It's for you!"

Chloe comes out of her room and when she spots Brian, she slams her hands softly against the rail of the stairs. "Brian."

_**[Forest]**_

Alek is running past trees in werewolf form. He jumps hills and runs on all fours like a werewolf would do. He looks all around, but nobody or nothing is in sight until he sees a black blazer jacket hanging on a tree branch and gets a flashback from when he was picking Chloe up; it was Chloe's jacket.

"Where is she?!" Alek asks. Suddenly, a deep voice answers to him.

"She's safe...from you."

He looks in the direction his voice came from and Derek is right in front of him. Grunting, Derek grabs him. They roll down the hills, wrestling each other. Derek slams Alek against a tree and grows.

"What did you do with her?" Alek asked, concerned if Chloe was safe or hurt, or still alive, or even dead.

"Shush, quiet." He warns as soon as he hears a twig crunch. "It's too late. They're already here. Run." He runs away from him. Alek starts running, but an arrow comes charging to him and nails his arm to the tree.

He screams, trying to get it out as he sees three hunters come out from the shadows. They are looking at him and the middle one is pointing a crossbow at him. Alek glares as the one hunter in the center takes a couple steps toward him. "Take him." He orders.

Derek comes out of the shadows aiming for the hunters. Out of nowhere, Derek pulls two of the hunters back against trees and they don't get up. The last hunter standing looks back. Derek rushes to Alek and breaks him free from the tree as the hunter faces the other direction, holding out a gun. Alek screams in pain and follows Derek.

They run to a random tree far away from the hunters and Alek leans on it, asking, "Who were they?"

"Those were hunters; the kind that has been hunting us for centuries."

Alek raises his voice when he responds, "Us...? You mean you! You did this to me!"

"Is it really so bad, Alek?" He asks. "That you can see better, hear more clearly, move faster than any human could ever hope? You've been given something that some people could kill for. The bite is a gift."

"I don't want it." Alek states.

"You will. And you're gonna need me if you want to learn how to control it. So you and I, Alek...we're brother's now." Derek walks away, leaving Alek alone.

_**[Next Day - Road]**_

Alek is walking on the outline of the road near the forest when Brian pulls up beside him. As Alek gets in, Brian hands him a clean shirt. "Do you know what actually worries me most?" Alek asked a few seconds later.

"If you say Chloe, I'm gonna punch you in the head." Brian comments. Alek was stunned by his answer, but he thought he was teasing. In case he wasn't, he didn't say her name.

"She probably hates me now."

"Ugh." Brian groans. "I doubt that, but you might want to come up with a pretty amazing apology. Or, you know you could just tell her the truth and reveal in the awesomeness of the fact that you're a freaking werewolf." Brian suggested and Alek looked at him like he was crazy.

"Okay, that's a bad idea."

"Hey, we'll get through this. Come on, if I have to, I'll chain you up myself on full moon nights. I had a boa once. I could do it." Brian tried to convince him. Alek scoffed and Brian looked at him with a half-smile.

_**San Francisco High**_

At the end of school, Alek sits outside in his Lacrosse gear when Chloe walks passed him. She notices him jump up and follow her. "So, what happened? You left me stranded at the party."

"Yeah, I know, I know. I'm really sorry, I am." Alek apologized. "But you're gonna have to trust that I had a really good reason." He continued. Chloe stopped walking and turned to face him.

"Did you get sick?" She asked.

"I definitely had an attack of something."

She's unconvinced. "Am I gonna get an explanation?"

"Can you just find it in your heart to just trust me on this one?"

"Am I gonna regret this?" She asked.

"You probably are." He answers. Chloe laughs. "So, is that a yes on a second chance?"

"Yes." Chloe responded. A car horn goes off and Chloe looks to see her dad. "That's my dad. I better go." Chloe walked off. Alek turns around to walk away, but turns back around to discover that Chloe's dad was the one who shot him in the arm with an arrow the couple nights ago.


	2. MESSAGE

ATTENTION READERS! This account will be no more later after my yahoo account was deleted so this story and all my other stories will be continued on my second account, Skyler Samuels.


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